Elvis’ Worst Movie — Who Needs Brackets

Have you been voting in Graceland’s new promotion, Elvis Movie Madness? It is a pretty clever idea inspired by the NCAA Basketball Tournament, commonly known as “March Madness.” They even copied the famous tournament brackets so millions of fans can determine Elvis’ Best Movie.

If you aren’t familiar with how these brackets work, you pick your favorite movie from each pair of choices down the left and right sides. The winners then pair off in the second, third and fourth brackets until there are only two movies left to battle for the crown. The shot of the brackets is too small to read, so here is a bigger version of the first round pairings. The losers in each pairing have been marked with a slash.

Here is a list of the sixteen movies that were eliminated in round one.

Flaming Star
Follow That Dream
Easy Come, Easy Go
Double Trouble

Kissin’ Cousins
Wild in the Country
Spinout
Stay Away Joe

The Trouble With Girls
Clambake
Live A Little, Love A Little
Frankie and Johnny

Paradise, Hawaiian Style
Speedway
Harum Scarum
Charro

There are some real stinkers in this list, and it got me thinking about what might be Elvis’ worst movie. Just for kicks, I Googled “Worst Elvis Presley Movie,” and lots of results came up. However, it is interesting to look at that top three sites Google found.

IMDb:

The Internet Movie Database is a treasure trove of information about films, television programs, and video games, including cast, production crew, fictional characters, biographies, plot summaries, trivia and reviews. In 1998, it became a subsidiary of Amazon.com.

Ranker:

I never heard of this site, but Ranker is a lot of fun. They have lists of the best and worst for every subject you can think of.

USA Today:

This national newspaper is certainly a credible source. While Ranker and IMDb ranked all 31 of Elvis’ movies from top to bottom, USA Today picked just the Top 10 and Worst 3.

So, here are their picks for the worst Elvis movie.

IMDb: Harum Scarum, Double Trouble, Spinout

Ranker: Harum Scarum, Easy Come, Easy Go, Double Trouble

USA Today: Harum Scarum, Easy Come, Easy Go, Paradise, Hawaiian Style

Well, we have a consensus here. Harum Scarum is the runaway choice for the worst Elvis movie. The nod for next worse seems to go to Easy Come, Easy Go, followed by Double Trouble.

Although IMDb does not publish official critiques, it does encourage comments from the public. In fairness, it should be said that there are some positive reviews included for the movies ranked as Elvis’ three worst. However, there is a preponderance of negative comments, and some of them for the consensus winner (loser?) you might find interesting.

Harum Scarum:

“Even Elvis haters looking for a cheap laugh will find themselves bored by this exercise.”

“The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson’s book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.”

“This is not the Elvis of folklore, nor is it the Elvis that will return one day and save us from mediocrity. This is the dry Elvis, milked fully, udders raw, yet ever sedated.”

“Colonel Tom Parker, who usually took great care in the movie properties acquired for Elvis, must have cringed with the lemon he got Elvis stuck in here.”

“Reportedly lensed in a mere 18 days, and for the sake of cost-cutting, everything was shot on back-lot MGM soundstages instead of actual locations in the Middle East.”

“There’s one jaw-dropping musical scene that’s borderline soft-kiddie porn when Presley watches as a pre-teen girl with slits in her dress that are WAIST-HIGH gyrates and flounces around faux-seductively. It’s really bizarre, inappropriate, wildly politically-incorrect, and sure to invoke discomfort in some viewers. It’s also just about the only thing in the film that can guarantee that the audience is awake!”

“Should be called Yawnum Snorum”

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